I really don't like shopping when it's too busy. I try to go around 9am on a weekday, if I go any later you get hit by the school run and then it just gets busier throughout the day. I went last night at 7pm and it was so busy, luckily I only had a few bits so could go in the express queue.

We went to Target today to get school stuff. Bad move. Too many people and them taking up most of the aisle space. Stressed me out.

I hate grocery shopping which I do on base. I usually can time it when it's not busy. The retirees are fun just not the active duty people or their spouses. If I have the gang with me any shopping is like Target today. They should sell wine icees or something like that.

I have definitely had that before, although not so much lately. Maybe I have been able to avoid the worst of the crowds, although I do find it annoying when the aisles are blocked by slow people. I remember thinking that Sprouts (a store that sells groceries, organic veggies, health food, etc.) would be a cool place to work, until I started getting panicky in the bulk granola aisle. Right now, I only get like that when driving or riding in a car on the freeway.

I used to not mind crowds as much. I used to go to concerts, but it's been about 12 years since I last went to a big arena show. I went to one mid-sized venue about 9 years ago, and other than that, it's been little clubs or concerts in the park.

Such anxieties can be control upto some limit by doing meditation. One of my fellow employee used to have this problem. When he used to come to office, he suffered a lot because there were presentations, team work and many things in which people needed to communicate with each other. As he started spending some time alone and did the meditation he showed incredible improvements.

I was just thinking it's interesting having the American perspective on what's considered crowded. Just having been back for a couple weeks I never experienced what I call "busy" shopping in the US. Here, in the UK, when it's busy, there are a lot of people and it's chaos. I've never experienced that level of crowding in the US shops. Just wondering if I've just missed it or if my perspective has changed?

Well I guess that your "need" to not be around a lot of people bumping into you shouldn't be a medicated condition is just me...

I don't like being medicated for a lot of things... since I think personally the mind/body operates pretty well if it has good healthy whole food and the nutrients it needs without a lot of stress (which increases nutrient needs)

I am taking half a tab of antidepressants at the moment and I hate and resent it... but I do it to function